AASHTO Research Advisory Committee

Value of Research Task Force

Meeting Minutes

Date

/ September 9, 2015 /

Time

/ 11:00 noon Central

Co-Chairs

/ Linda Taylor, Minnesota DOT
Bill Stone, Missouri DOT / Scribes / Linda Taylor, Minnesota DOT
Bill Stone, Missouri DOT
Subject / Value of Research Task Force Teleconference
Attendees / State DOT – members
Linda Taylor, Minnesota (co-chair)
Bill Stone, Missouri (co-chair)
Ann Scholz, New Hampshire
Dave Huft, South Dakota
Michelle Owens, Alabama
State DOT – friends
Tim McDowell, Wyoming
Camille Crichton-Sumners, New Jersey
Donald Williams, West Virginia / Other organizations – friends
Chris Jenks, NCHRP
Chris Hedges, TRB
Pat Casey, CTC & Associates
Barbara Harder,B. T. Harder, Inc.

Key Points Discussed

No. / Topic / Highlights
1 / Welcome and introductions / Linda kicked off the meeting with introductions.
2 / Review & Approve July Meeting Minutes & Action Items / Linda reviewed the notes from the Summer Task Force meeting from Portland. One item was that the Supplemental Brochure was to be electronically distributed to Structures Standing Committee Chairs rather than printed copies. This will be included as an action item from this call.
Pat Casey made a motion to approve the minutes and it was seconded and approved.
3 / High Value Research Update / Bill Stone noted that the 2015 Research Impacts-Better-Faster-Cheaper document that highlights all of the High Value Research submittals has been posted to the AASHTO-RAC website. The supplemental Brochure for Structures that was shared at the Summer RAC/TRB meeting has also been posted. These are posted under the “Document Library” in the Value of Research Task Force page. A question came up that some were unaware of the location of the posting and Bill will put out some information that points that location out. It was also noted that the Research Impacts document should also be listed in the “What’s New” webpage.
There will be two Supplemental Brochures developed based on the 2015 HVR projects as discussed in the July VOR Task Force meeting. Safety is a high priority for everyone, thus it was recommended to develop a supplemental brochure each year on that topic along with the next most common topic area. For 2015, the next common topic was “Pavements”. Bill will compile a list of the “Safety” and “Pavements” HVR submittals for a VOR team to prioritize and develop write-ups for the brochures. Ann Scholz volunteered to assist with that effort again. Bill will be seeking volunteers for this effort, seeking multiple regions for support.
The selection of the Sweet Sixteen formal presentations at the upcoming AASHTO Annual meeting has been made. They will be presented on September 25th in Chicago. They are the following:
  • MARYLAND:Effective Implementation of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for Condition Assessment and Monitoring of Critical Infrastructure Components of Bridges and Highways
  • TEXAS: Surface Treatments to Alleviate Crashes on Horizontal Curves
  • VIRGINIA: I-81 In-Place Pavement Recycling Project
  • MISSOURI: Safety Evaluation of the Diverging Diamond Interchanges (DDIs) in Missouri
The RPM website will be the mechanism for the 2016 HVR submittals. The contract for RPM is continuing through July 2016. Then a decision will need to be made as to whether to continue with RPM in its current format, update RPM, or develop a new mechanism. Issues associated with the most recent use of RPM were discussed. Since RPM for the most part is only used once per year. There were some state representatives that did not remember their password to be able to access. Several boxes in RPM must be checked during the input. One is “year submitted”, one project this year had the wrong year checked, thus was not accepted this year, but will be eligible in 2016 submittals.
High Value Research Update (cont’d) / In RPM, attachments and links are biggest challenge- this information is not accessible and does come over when information is exported from RPM; the consultant currently needs to develop a spreadsheet to capture this information. Bill and Renee whom compiled the information would have to go back to the consultant form those items and placed on a ftp site. Can be problematic if the consultant is on vacation or unavailable during critical time periods, which did occur this year. Another check box is “view by others”. If this is not checked, then only the state submitting and the contractor responsible for RPM can see the inputs. Users expressed frustration at having to re-enter information if system times out or don’t finish entering information in one session. There was a lot of retyping that was required because the cut/paste feature was very unstable. RPM doesn’t automatically save entered data, the user must go in and retype information if don’t complete the transaction during that input session. The RPM tool was developed to capture performance measures and thus some of the data it asks for does not directly related to HVR project submittals. This was noted during the call and will be captured during upcoming discussions regarding the future of RPM.
4 / Research Benefit Presentations Update / The benefits presentations provided by Utah, Kansas and Indiana at the summer meeting received very positive feedback and comments. Several stated that it was valuable, useful information to the DOTs. This information should incorporate in the Ahead of the Curve course. Barbara indicated that didn’t need to reinvent the wheel and taking advance of already created materials added a lot of value.
5 / Marketing the Value of Research Working Group / Megan Swanson and Ann Scholz on expressed interest in chairing the Marketing the Value of Research Working. Linda and Bill will follow-up with them on further details and responsibilities for them to make final decision.
The next VOR conference call we will discuss the possible next steps to the Marketing survey. The Marketing PowerPoint presentation given by Pat Casey will be provided so everyone can review the materials prior to the meeting.
6 / Performance Measure & Quantifying the Value of Research Working Group / Jason Siwula, Kentucky DOT volunteered during the summer RAC meeting to accept the Chair for this working group. Jason was unavailable for the call.
Linda will connect with him on next steps for Performance Measure & Quantifying the Value of Research Working Group.
Status Update
  • Southeast Transportation Consortium (STC) – Donny Williams – The consultant has been selected and LADOT is negotiating the final contract.
  • Florida - no updates provided
  • MnDOT Benefit Quantification Project - Linda provided a brief update. The consultant is making progress of calculating the cost/benefit of 11 research projects. The calculation spreadsheet tool is too specific for these projects. Found that difficult to calculate benefit information if the before data is not captured upfront.
The Conduct of Research has decided to sponsor HVR poster at the TRB Annual meeting.
7 / Discussion on use of NCHRP SP-05 Support / NCHRP Project SP-05 was recently approved for FY2016. It is targeted to assist the AASHTO RAC with support through the use of NCHRP funding. This item was added to the agenda to begin compiling research needs that can be shared once SP-05 is developed. Much of this discussion focused on some of the previous discussion regarding the RPM web tool. It was discussed as to what some options for RPM might be. RPM options discussed, included the following:
  • Update RPM to address shortcoming identified by users, LA, and VOR taskforce.
  • Incorporate into RPPM website and build necessary module and/or supportive field and reports
  • Develop new application to support HVR solicitation process and reporting
  • Also discussed anapplication that builds on information within RIP and/or TRID database were HVR projects would be flagged and the information ported over to another application.
Other options for SP-05 discussed were the following:
  • Contract the development of the Safety and Supplemental brochures to help market the HVR projects.
  • Contact support to figure out next steps for RPM website- should we replace, update/enhance, move or develop a new application
  • Contract support for listserv surveys that needed to support AASHTO RAC Taskforces to include survey development, analysis, identification of common themes, follow-up with selected states for additional information and/or clarification, presentation and summary report.
  • Contract support for compilation of HVR projects into Research Impacts Better-Faster –Cheaper and maintain database of HVR projects.

Action Items
No. / Action Item /

Owner

/

Target Date

1 / Follow-up with Natassja Linzau and request that the Research Impacts Better-Faster-Cheaper be added to What New page. / Ann Scholz / October 1, 2015
2 / Send out an e-mail to AASHTO-RAC with were to find the HVR brochures and HVR compilation summaries. This is under the VOR Taskforce resource page. / Bill Stone / October 1, 2015
3 / Ann Scholz of New Hampshire will connect with Natassja on the possibility of accommodating the HVR submittals into the RPPM website. / Ann Scholz / October 1, 2015
4 / Check with Region 4 and inquire as to when the Summer meeting presentations will be posted on the AASHTO-RAC website. / Linda Taylor / October 15, 2015
5 / Send out the Market Survey PowerPoint presentation that Pat Casey gave during the Summer RAC VOR Task Force meeting for discussion at the next VOR conference call in November. / Linda Taylor / October 15, 2015
6 / Send out Structures Supplemental Brochure to Chairs of AASHTO Standing Committees that have a Structures Focus / Bill Stone / September 11, 2015